Paperboard container

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an end-loading container for consumer products, such as beer, and a principal feature of the container is the provision of a bridging arrangement across the top wall that gives strength to the container as it is lifted by means of a hand opening formed in a side wall opposite the bridge. A further feature of the container is the reinforcement of the area adjacent the hand opening by means of added plies of paperboard folded from the container blank.

United States Patent Dewhurst Oct. 10, 1972 [54] PAPERBOARD CONTAINER [72] Inventor: Ernest James Dewhurst, Toronto,

Ontario, Canada [73] Assignee: Somerville Industries Limited, London, England [22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1970 [211 App]. No.: 87,185

[52] US. Cl. ..229/37 R, 229/51 TS, 229/52 B [51 Int. Cl. ..B65d 5/16 [58] Field of Search .....229/37 R, 37 E, 51 TS, 51 D,

229/52 B, 52 BC [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,533,549 10/1970 Gilchrist ..229/51 TS Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Att0rneyFetherstonhaugh & C0.

[ ABSTRACT The invention relates to an end-loading container for consumer products, such as beer, and a principal feature of the container is the provision of a bridging arrangement across the top wall that gives strength to the container as it is lifted by means of a hand opening formed in a side wall opposite the bridge. A further feature of the container is the reinforcement of the area adjacent the hand opening by means of added plies of paperboard folded from the container blank.

7 Clains, 5 Drawing figures PATENTEDHB 10 I91? 3,696,990

sum 1 OF 2 lii &

INVENTOR.

ERNEST JAMES DEWHURST ymm zw ATTORNEYS PATENTEDUU 10 I972 3.696. 990

SHEET 2 0F 2 INVENTOR. ERNEST JAMES DEWHURST ATTORNEYS PAPERBOARD CONTAINER This invention relates to a paperboard container especially suitable for packaging bottles of beverage.

It is common practice to package beverages in tubular containers that have end openings for loading. The containers have a top wall, a bottom wall and opposed side walls. After loading the end openings are sealed, and when the user wants to remove the contents, he makes an opening in the top wall by removing or dislodging tear strips provided for the purpose.

These containers commonly have a carrying means and a popular type of carrying means has been a simple hand opening in a side wall of the container adjacent the juncture of one side and the top wall. A container with a carrying means of this type has the merit of being relatively inexpensive. On the other hand, it is not particularly strong and it has, in the past, been found necessary to provide some kind of a reinforcement other than the paperboard of the container to strengthen the container at the junction of the top wall and the side wall where the hand opening is placed. Use has also been restricted to strong paperboards such as corrugated boards.

These containers are especially weak after the container has been opened by removing the tear strips that form the opening. This weakens the top wall, with the result that the side walls tend to bulge under stress of lifting by the hand hole.

The container of this invention has a hand hole for carrying but it is constructed in a manner that greatly increases its strength at the critically weak places. With the invention it is possible to construct a container from relatively thin chip paperboard without reinforcing the corner adjacent the hand hole with material other than paperboard. The rigidity of the container after it has been opened is greatly improved. These advantages are obtained with an overall construction that costs less to manufacture than comparable containers presently available.

A paperboard container according to this invention comprises a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall, a second side wall, end closure means, a hand opening stricken from said first side wall having its upper edge adjacent but spaced from the junction of said top wall to define a top opening for said container, a rigidifying bridge in said top wall extending transversely across said top wall from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall to the junction of said top wall and said second side wall, said hand opening being aligned with the transverse extent of said bridge, said tear panels being on each side of said rigidifying bridge, and a glue flap carried by one of said first side wall and said second side wall.

The invention will be clearly understood after reference to the following detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view of a paperboard blank from which a container according to this invention can be assembled.

FIG. 2 is a view of the glue flap portion of the blank shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the manner in which the first fold is made.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a container separated at the glue flap to illustrate its assembly.

FIG. 4 is a view of an assembled container illustrating the manner in which the tear flaps are removed, and

FIG. 5 is a view along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 illustrating the reinforcement and illustrating the disposition of bottles within the container in use.

In the drawings, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a container and FIG. 1 is a view of the paperboard blank from which it is constructed. The container has a top wall 10, a first side wall 12, a bottom wall 14, a second side wall 16, and-end closure means that are formed by cooperating end flaps 18, 20, 22 and 24.

The side wall 12 has a hand opening 26 that is formed by swinging flap 28 inwardly and upwardly about its hinge line. The formation of the flap is indicated in FIG. 1. The double solid line indicates a hinge line. The single solid line indicates a cut line. It will be noticed that there is a breakin the cut line. This is to keep the flap as a portion of the side wall 12 until a user depresses it inwardly to form the hand opening. The flap is also formed with a crease line 50 which will be referred to later.

In use the container is lifted by the hand hole 26 and placing the fingers at the junction of the side wall 12 and top 10. It will be apparent that there is a very substantial strain on the container at its place of suspension at the junction of the side wall 12 and the top wall 10. This invention is concerned with the reinforcement of the container in this area to withstand the strain of lifting.

Tubular containers of the type to which this invention relates are normally top opening. The top wall is formed with tear panels which are defined by weakened lines. They are torn from the top wall to gain access to the interior of the container. It will be apparent that when the tear panels are removed the container is substantially weakened and it is a feature of this invention to locate the tear panels which give access to the interior of the container in such a way that they leave a rigidifying bridge area on the top wall of the container that extends transversely across the con tainer from the junction of side wall 12 and top wall 10 to the junction of side wall 16 and top wall 10. This bridge is located so that its transverse extent aligns with the hand opening 26. It thus is adapted to maintain the two side walls in substantially parallel relation in the area of the handle opening when the container is lifted by the handle opening.

The combination of the hand hole and the transversely extending bridge is an important feature of the invention.

A further feature of the invention is the manner in which the junction of the top wall 10 and the side wall 12 is reinforced at the marginal areas of the two walls to give added strength.

The container is glued into tubular form and secured into tubular form by means of a glue flap 34. This is standard practice in the assembling of containers of this type. In this case, however, the glue flap incorporates reinforcing means. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated the reinforcing means comprises a first reinforcing assembly generally indicated by the numeral 36, hinged to the glue flap along a hinge line 38 and a second reinforcing assembly cut from the blank, and generally indicated by the numeral 40, hinged to the glue flap along a line 42.

As the container is formed from the blank of FIG. 1 the first reinforcing assembly is folded about fold line 38, as indicated in FIG. 2. The second reinforcing assembly 40 is then folded about its hinge line 42, also as indicated in FIG. 2. It will be noted that the first reinforcing assembly 36 is formed with a fold line 44 and hinge line 48 of the glue flap so that when the container is glued into tubular form and erected, each of the reinforcing assemblies has a strip that reinforces the marginal portion of the top wall 10 and of the side wall 12. Thus, the first reinforcing assembly and the second reinforcing assembly give a 2-ply added reinforcement to the container in the area of the hand hole when the container is assembled. This is illustrated in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

An added reinforcement is provided by the handle flap 28. It also is formed with a fold line 50 which is adapted to fold into the corner of the container at the juncture of the walls and 12 to provide an additional third ply of reinforcement.

The opening flaps 30 and 32 are formed with a tab that is cut from the end closure flaps 24 and with a weakened tear line that extends longitudinally of the top wall. They are hinged to the top wall at inner ends as indicated by the double line. In use, as indicated above, one pulls the tab that extends into the flap 24 upwardly and then tears the flap from the top wall, as indicated in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

Packages of this nature are commonly used to package beverages such as beer. In use, they are assembled to a tubular form by securing glue flap 34 to wall 12. They are loaded through the open end walls. After loading the end walls are glued. The user removes the tear flaps 30 and 32 to gain access to the contents. He usually replaces the empty bottles in the container for return to the brewer. It is under these conditions and after the top wall has been weakened by removing tear flaps 30 and 32 that the reinforcing devices of this invention are especially important. It has been found that a paperboard container having its tear flaps 30 and 32 disposed to provide a transversely extending reinforcing bridge in the area of the end hole 28 and having reinforcing assemblies formed in the glue flap as illustrated is sufficiently strong to package 12 12-ounce bottles of beer and to return the empty bottles after use when made from a chip paperboard between 28 thousandths and 32 thousandths of an inch thick. It is quite conceivable that the container could be made from a paperboard of a lesser thickness. This would depend upon the reliability required by the user. The significant thing is that with the construction of the invention, it is possible to make a container strong enough to do the job from a relatively thin paperboard with a consequent reduction in cost.

The construction of a container according to the in-' vention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The formation of the blank is done according to standard practice. FIG. 1 shows a glue area 52 which is preferably used to secure the first reinforcing assembly 36 after folding. Glue at this place, however, is not essential to the invention. The broken line on FIG. 1 illustrates the termination of the glue area on the glue flap. FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the container in tubular form but with the glue strip separated from the wall 12. It will be appreciated that this view is for the purposes of illustration only and that in practice one would normally secure the glue flap 34 to the wall 12 with the container in a flattened condition.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A paperboard container comprising a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall, a second side wall, end closure means, a hand'opening stricken from said first side wall having its upper edge adjacent but spaced from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall, tear panels removable from said top wall to define a top opening for said container, a rigidifying bridge in said top wall extending transversely across said top wall from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall to the junction of said top wall and said second side wall, said hand opening being aligned with the transverse extent of said bridge, said tear panels being on each side of said rigidifying bridge, and a glue flap carried by one of said first side wall and said second side wall.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, having a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, having a handle flap hinged to said hand opening, said flap having a crease line extending therealong to form it into a third reinforcing assembly when folded inwardly to extend in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall in which said glue flap is hinged to said top wall.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1, having a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall and a second reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall, said second reinforcing assembly being of lesser extent than said first reinforcing assembly.

5. A container as claimed in claim 4, having a handle flap hinged to said hand opening, said flap having a crease line extending therealong to form it into athird reinforcing assembly when folded inwardly to extend in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall.

6. A container as claimed in claim 1, in which said glue flap is hinged to said top wall.

7. A paperboard container comprising a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall, a second side wall, end closure means, a hand opening stricken from said first side wall having its upper edge adjacent but spaced from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall, tear panel means removable from said top wall to define a top opening for said container, and a glue flap carried by one of said first side wall and said second side wall, a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall and a second reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall, said second reinforcing assembly being of lesser extent than said first reinforcing assembly. 

1. A paperboard container comprising a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall, a second side wall, end closure means, a hand opening stricken from said first side wall having its upper edge adjacent but spaced from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall, tear panels removable from said top wall to define a top opening for said container, a rigidifying bridge in said top wall extending transversely across said top wall from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall to the junction of said top wall and said second side wall, said hand opening being aligned with the transverse extent of said bridge, said tear panels being on each side of saId rigidifying bridge, and a glue flap carried by one of said first side wall and said second side wall.
 2. A container as claimed in claim 1, having a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall.
 3. A container as claimed in claim 2, having a handle flap hinged to said hand opening, said flap having a crease line extending therealong to form it into a third reinforcing assembly when folded inwardly to extend in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall in which said glue flap is hinged to said top wall.
 4. A container as claimed in claim 1, having a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall and a second reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall, said second reinforcing assembly being of lesser extent than said first reinforcing assembly.
 5. A container as claimed in claim 4, having a handle flap hinged to said hand opening, said flap having a crease line extending therealong to form it into a third reinforcing assembly when folded inwardly to extend in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall.
 6. A container as claimed in claim 1, in which said glue flap is hinged to said top wall.
 7. A paperboard container comprising a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall, a second side wall, end closure means, a hand opening stricken from said first side wall having its upper edge adjacent but spaced from the junction of said top wall and said first side wall, tear panel means removable from said top wall to define a top opening for said container, and a glue flap carried by one of said first side wall and said second side wall, a first reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall and a second reinforcing assembly hinged to said glue flap and extending in reinforcing relation along marginal portions of said top wall and said first side wall, said second reinforcing assembly being of lesser extent than said first reinforcing assembly. 